Are Apple Watch Telling You The Truth About your Body?

It has always been a daunting challenge to make time for any fitness in our crowded schedules. If you still manage to do that, as the workload picks up, it’s still the first thing that goes flying out of the window. Well, with a fitness tracker or smartwatch that enables people to live a healthier lifestyle and track their fitness targets, this allows a simple segue.

In the last couple of years, workout gadgets have taken the tech world by storm. These little bits of hardware that are technologically advanced have come a long way and are no longer limited to having the moves counted. They will check your sleep habits, the amount of post-workout calories consumed, the basal metabolic rate, and even the heart rate.

While these fitness wearables make excellent training partners, are they as specific as they are said to be?

Is The Step Count Stats Reliable?

Let’s face it; in counting the number of steps you take in a day, a gadget attached to your wrist will not be 100 percent precise. To provide you with a number, wrist-based trackers have to do a lot of guessing. To do so, to determine motion, they use an accelerometer that packs electromagnetic sensors.

However, it is possible to trick the algorithm which teaches the method to use data and translate it into steps. People with a sluggish speed or an odd style of walking can not get close to the exact number of steps often. Although accelerometers can be the best bet for fitness trackers, gyroscopes will never be entirely accurate.

It’s how we make numerous gestures that include hand movements during the day. The sensors, however, refuse to separate them from conventional steps and acknowledge such gestures as walking. This is also the reason why different trackers display different counts for the same motion, as different algorithms are used by both of them.

So if you want to find an estimate of your everyday operation, an exercise tracker might be a good alternative; but it does not come in handy if you are searching for definitive numbers. When keeping track of your moves, a tablet might be more precise, but carrying a phone in your pocket when working out is not a very handy option.

Is The Heart rate Data Reliable?

As previously mentioned, most fitness trackers are also capable of tracking the heart rate of users. Through the projection of a green LED into the forearm, they make use of photoplethysmography that monitors heart rate.

The optical heart rate monitor measures the heart rate based on the green light absorbed by the blood between beats, by translating the data into pulse readings. However, this information may be falsified by various causes. It would be impossible to imagine, but the color of your face, the hair on your wrist, or even the exercise band’s tightness will affect the outcome.

In comparison, various firms use various sensors that do not display identical outcomes. The capacity of these sensors may also differ when monitoring heart rate at rest and during an exercise. An analysis shows that, relative to when the body is at rest, the error rate of these trackers during exercises was 30 percent.

The heart rate sensor on these fitness trackers will not be beneficial if you are someone who takes fitness very seriously, prepares diligently for a sporting event, or aspires to be a fitness professional. A chest band would be a safer option than a tracker that is wrist-bound. But fitness trackers are good enough for those hunting for a general sense of their heart rhythm.

Fitness Trackers, Are They A Sham?

Fitness trackers can be a valuable guide for knowing your exercise habits, but they are not something you can entirely rely on. These devices can help you drive towards your goal; however, it is not appropriate to take the measurements they provide as gospel truth.

These exercise bands offer a cool and useful accessory, but the fallibility of the technology used by these fitness trackers should be considered by all. But make sure you don’t go nuts wasting your bucks on anything that doesn’t provide you with accurate data when making a buying decision.

Try to search for a cheap exercise tracker that is conveniently compatible with your phone and comes fitted with all the important features.